The whole calendar in one grid
Learning the days of the week and the months of the year is a classic early milestone, and this word search puts them all in one place. You'll be finding the days from MONDAY to SUNDAY and the months from JANUARY all the way to DECEMBER.
Each puzzle pulls a fresh selection from the list, so the calendar changes every time you play — gentle on Easy, and a longer-word challenge once the diagonals and backwards words appear on Hard.
Seven days and twelve months
The grid holds the whole calendar. There are all seven days — MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY and SUNDAY — and the twelve months in order, from JANUARY and FEBRUARY through the summer of JUNE, JULY and AUGUST to the run of SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, NOVEMBER and DECEMBER. There's also the WEEK and the MONTH, the two ways we group those days up.
Where the names come from
These everyday words hide a lot of history. Several days are named after gods: SUNDAY and MONDAY for the Sun and Moon, while THURSDAY is 'Thor's day' and FRIDAY is named for the Norse goddess Freya. The months carry Roman history — JANUARY is named after Janus, the two-faced god of beginnings, and JULY and AUGUST honour the leaders Julius Caesar and Augustus. Oddly, SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, NOVEMBER and DECEMBER come from the Latin for seven, eight, nine and ten, because the old Roman calendar started in March and they've simply kept their old names.
Knowing the calendar is one of the most useful things a young child learns, because it comes up every single day — in the morning register, when talking about birthdays, and when following the SEASONS round the year. There's a satisfying rhythm to it: seven days make a WEEK, and roughly four weeks make a MONTH, twelve of which make a year. Spotting tricky spellings like WEDNESDAY (with its silent first 'd') or FEBRUARY out of the grid is a friendly way to make these everyday words stick.
Great for an early-years topic
Days and months come up daily, from the register to birthdays and seasons — Easy mode uses a small grid with no diagonals or reverse words. Play online, print a PDF pack, or use Make Your Own to build a grid from the calendar words your class is learning.
Frequently asked questions
What's in the days and months word search?
The whole calendar — every day of the week and every month of the year. Each puzzle uses a fresh selection.
Does it cover both days and months?
It does — every day from MONDAY to SUNDAY and every month from JANUARY to DECEMBER, plus the words WEEK and MONTH.
Is it good for an early-years topic?
Perfectly — days and months come up daily, from the register to birthdays and seasons. Easy mode uses a small grid with no diagonals or reverse words.